Last week Mimi shared with me these lovely Sunday school lessons from her childhood. They teach the stories and lessons of the Bible in a way a child growing up in the mid the 1950’s would understand. I loved reading them over and enjoying the artwork and puzzles on the back. A lot of care went into making the Bible real for children. One of the things that amused me was how the writers glazed over uncomfortable parts of the Bible stories so that they were more palatable to society’s standards of the times. Certain parts of the Bible were just too messy and embarrassing for children.
In the lesson on the annunciation, great care was given to say that Joseph and Mary got married right after the angel told her she would have a child. The lesson said that Jesus was born from a pure person…… And, although I have no doubt that Mary was a good and pure hearted person, we now believe, based on similar birth stories of Caesar and other great leaders of the time, that the virgin birth story is a way for the writer to say this little child being born is something great…. this is not an ordinary baby.
The truth is the Bible is messy at times. There are stories in it that we would rather not let our children know. Noah and the ark, a story so loved by children, is actually a story about God annihilating almost all of creation before promising never to do it again. That’s not a great bedtime story! And Good Friday….Jesus’s painful death on a cross, is something that should keep us up at night. Perhaps white washing the stories might make them a little more palatable. But should we really be making excuses for a book we refer to as the Word of God? Perhaps it might be better to look at these hard to read passages and not white wash them but see if they have meaning for us today.
This morning’s passage is one of these. We don’t like passages where Jesus talks about demons and hell and cutting off limbs… particularly when he has children around him…. but the story is there. Listen now for God’s message to us found in the Gospel of Mark 9:38-50.
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone[a] casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me,[b] it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell,[c] to the unquenchable fire.[d] 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.[e][f] 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,[g] 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire.[h] 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?[i] Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
(The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.)
Many commentaries on this passage go right to the last verses. Whole sermons can be written about salt. Jesus used the phrase ‘salt of the earth’ to refer to his disciples in Matthew, but we cannot be sure that he was using salt in that way here. Salt was a precious commodity in Jesus’ time as it not only flavored food but preserved it. Salt was used medicinally and given to Roman soldiers as part of their pay. It is an interesting subject to discuss. But, that will be for another day, as I want to talk about two other subjects brought up in this passage, those being who is in and who is out of Jesus’ group and what are the list of rules that are not acceptable.
Jesus has just told his disciples, and we learned last week, that you must be like a child to enter God’s realm. We learned that children were the expendable powerless ones in ancient Israel and that being ‘the least of these’ is a key to being the greatest with God. The disciples then pose the question for today. Teacher, we saw an outsider doing ministry in Your name…. what should we do? And Jesus, interestingly does not dive into the person’s motive in his answer, but in the consequences for Jesus’s community and for the person doing the work on behalf of Jesus. If the actions bring about good results…. all is well.
Then Jesus goes into what sounds like a wild explosion of gruesome threats and prescribed horrendous punishments. The effect is very forceful to the reader, but if we look at what is written closer, the meaning of his tirade might make sense. Jesus looks at his newest followers… those new to his message and calls him his little ones. His concern is for people who would put a stumbling block in the formation of their faith. They have just joined into the community which is following him and need to be mentored by faithful people who will lead them in their faith development…. The community and the future of his ministry, particularly after he is dead, is at stake.
Jesus’ community and later the church has been described in terms of a body. We at Riviera are a body of believers. We say we are the body of Christ. Paul, in his letters, wrote that the body is best when it has all sorts of different parts doing its work and that all parts, whether you are a hand or a heart, are important and good for the church community or the body of believers. Jesus just said in this passage that the consequences of an individual’s action is what counts…. They will be judged not on what part of the body they are… a hand, foot, or eyes but on how is serves God’s realm. Jesus then states that when a member of the body… a hand or a foot…. is not working for God’s good…. for the good of the body of Christ, they should be removed. It is better not to have them then to have them take the whole community down with them. And, that makes sense! I actually use this concept in my pastoral counseling.
In my life…. and I’m not saying I’m old… but I have traveled around the sun quite a few times!, and I have truly found that I am better when I surround myself with people who are better than I am morally. I don’t mean that they have to be good by society’s standards, but they must be working to towards living a life where love and being loving are their goals. I have found that when I surround myself with people whose motives are not pure, whose life goals are personal and selfish, it does not bring out the best in me. AND it is not healthy to live in environments where consequences and long term goals are set aside for short term gains or individual and hedonistic pursuits. When we surround ourselves with societies who do not think of the good of the whole, we do not either. It is better to find groups and be a part of a community that although each person is different, they are grounded in an ethic and love and concern for the whole. You know…. to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are better then…. And what Jesus is describing, in a very dramatic way, is that it is better if we get people who do not promote the good in us out of our lives. He says…Cut them off… amputate those people who don’t promote us being the people of God we are called to be!
And this is where I should probably insert a bit about the Judge Kavanaugh hearing this week and the further investigation by the FBI that has been ordered about him. Although most of us are still too raw after Dr. Ford’s testimony and the emotions it brought up in us, the question is one that is brought up by this passage. Our concern is for the good of the body. Our concern is for the good of our society. So, the senate will have to decide if he is to be confirmed, or whether it is better to cut him out.
And, I don’t know about you but I have a few personality traits as well as people that could be amputated from my life as well. I joke about giving up sarcasm each year for Lent but it is only because I know it is a character trait that I possess that isn’t always nice. I realize it can be cruel. I realize it can make me sound superior to another. And sarcasm does not make sense to a literal person. You make a sarcastic comment and they look at you as though you have said the more outrageous or mean comment…. and, well, you have.
I know I am a nicer person when I am around nice and kind people. Think about it… The saying goes that water seeks its own level, but perhaps the level of the water you live in creates your level as well. For example….Kathy is a nice person… and being around her makes me nicer. Barbara, Ellen, Karen P. and Karen C., Janet, Vivian and Mimi make up our Mission Committee and when I am with them, I think of justice issues, and caring for the environment and the powerless. They make me better. And the mission opportunities they present to us make us better too.
And a good church is one that makes us better as well. We are a community that is to live out the ethic of love we have been taught. Sure we have fun together …. but we have fun to build our community and share our love. We come together as community, as a body that is called to bring God’s unconditional love to the world around us. Church, when it is what it is meant to be, makes us better. Whether by collecting socks for the homeless this next month, providing food for the hungry, fighting for the undocumented immigrants, showing unconditional love to a person who feels marginalized, or ensuring children have quality day-care and a good education, together we are better than we are alone.
I am proud to be your pastor because you are a church who truly is the body of Christ. Sure… we all have personal debris to clean up and throw out of our lives. But when we come together we are so much more than what we are individually. Together, we are able to be the living presence of God’s love in the world.
Amen.